Baby Steps
by GenesicDriver
Summary: Erica looked down, her hands in her lap. How could she ever change? Even if things looked up for her like they did today, her natural talent for messing things up were still in effect. Maybe this was a lost cause...
For some reason, Erica seemed cheerier than she usually was today, which is saying something. Ogami couldn't quite tell how, though, but there was a way Erica went about talking to everyone in town, performing at Chatte Noire, and running errands that seemed to have more spirit, however possible that was.

So, here Ogami was, sitting at his apartment, waiting for Erica to finish making hot chocolate for the two of them. The warm and milky beverage was one of the first trials Erica had managed to overcome on her long journey to becoming passable at cooking. Actually cooking meals would come later, as Ogami needed to consider all the possible ways Erica could mess up and plan accordingly.

Maybe tofu, she can't possibly mess up tofu.

Ogami snapped out of his thoughts as Erica walked towards the table, balancing the tray that held two smoking mugs of hot chocolate.

"Here it is, Ogami!" Erica said with yet another cheerful smile.

Ogami returned her smile as she approached the table.

"Thanks, Erica," He began. Maybe now would be a good time for Ogami to ask Erica about her new attitude.

"Say, what's with you today? It's been a while since I've last seen you this confident." That was true, as he was mostly the one that cooked for the two of them around there.

"Oh, it's wonderful, Ogami!" Erica exclaimed as she set the tray on the table. "I haven't made any mistakes all day! No tripping, no knocking anything over, no-"

Suddenly, as she was walking around the table, Erica lost her footing. To support herself, she quickly grabbed hold of the table with one of her arms, jolting it a bit to her side. Unfortunately, this caused the tray of hot drinks to slide across the surface and off the table's wooden cliff, with the mugs spilling their contents right onto-

"Ogami! I'm so, SO sorry!" Erica exclaimed after hearing Ogami scream bloody murder in response to having hot chocolate spill onto his lap. The young nun quickly grabbed some napkins from the nearby counter and hurriedly tried to clean up Ogami before his pants were stained.

"Yet another pair, ruined..." Ogami bemoaned softly as Erica tried to lap up the mess with the napkins.

Fortunately, the mess was cleaned up quickly, with Ogami's pants getting cleaned up before they were truly stained, and the now shattered mugs getting swept up and thrown out. Yet, despite this, Erica still sighed afterwards.

"Gee, and I really thought I was changing for the better, too..." Erica said aloud to herself as she sat at the table.

"Does this change have to do with that bout of confidence you've been having all day?" Ogami asked, moving his chair so that he was adjacent to the klutzy nun.

"Yup," Erica confirmed with a semi-solemn nod. "I've been trying my best to change for the better recently; no tripping, being more attentive, and being a better cook. For the most part, today was one of my better days, until I got careless and made that mess on you earlier." She let out another sigh.

"Well, some things never change, huh, Ogami?"

Erica looked down, her hands in her lap. How could she ever change? Even if things looked up for her like they did today, her natural talent for messing things up were still in effect. Maybe this was a lost cause, maybe she should just give-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Ogami placing one of his hands on her's.

"Ogami?" She turned towards him, surprised.

"Erica, changes take time," He said, looking at her directly. "Even if you screw up today, tomorrow's a brand new day. Don't let one setback like that get you down. Instead, use that to realize what you should work on fixing tomorrow, and the day after that."

Erica looked back down at Ogami's hand, and then back to his face.

"No matter how long it takes, or how many cups of whatever you accidentally drop, I'll be here with you every step of the way."

Upon hearing that, Erica closed her eyes and thought to herself. So what if she's a klutz like today? With Ogami's encouragement, and Glycine and Coquelicot and Hanabi and especially Lobelia, she can overcome anything, even herself.

"You're right, Ogami!" Erica said, opening her eyes and facing him. "Even if it takes me the rest of my life, I'm gonna work on becoming the most gracious me I can be!"

"...You meant to say 'Graceful' there, right?"

"That too!"

"Regardless," Ogami began as he stood up from his chair, "How about we try cooking a new dish tonight? Does tofu sound good?"

"Oh, does it ever!" Erica exclaimed, taking Ogami's arm and pulling him towards the kitchen. "No matter how long it takes, I'm gonna show tofu that nothing's impossible for Erica Fontaine!"

Though, she thought at the back of her mind, should she tell Ogami that while making the hot chocolate earlier she may have accidentally used salt instead of sugar?

No, that's fine, she rebutted. She should learn from that herself anyway.

~Fin~


End file.
